Clients

BT

BT is one of the largest communications service providers in the UK, serving both the UK and global markets. Operating in a rapidly changing and increasingly competitive market, it is essential for BT to keep a close eye on the satisfaction levels of their existing customers and understand the views of prospective customers too.This means staying in touch with opinions on new products and developments in the industry through a continual programme of research in the UK and global markets.

The Business Case

BT has run continuous and ad-hoc research projects for many years. As a result of the increasing complexity of these projects BT required a system that would accurately manage customer data, deliver reliable samples and maintain contact management to maximise the number of successful interviews.

Implementation and Development

BT chose Centurion’s MARSC sample management system because it provided the extra flexibility needed for the new research programme and because Centurion was able to implement it in a very tight timescale. Centurion built the first MARSC database for BT’s business customers in just two weeks, back in 2003. More recent MARSC implementations have been built in the matter of days. There are now several MARSC databases in operation in BT, which are used to manage the data of over 20 million customers. These are used to target specific customer groups, including an online research panel of business customers.

By centralising sampling BT now has a single point of contact for all sample production and thanks to support from the Centurion team, an enviable reputation for quick delivery. The number and volume of samples required to meet all of the research needs has increased significantly. The number of sample jobs processed more than doubled from 2,800 in 2003 to 6,800 in 2008.

In addition the increased complexity of sampling requirements has driven an expansion in the on-site support team. Centurion now provides BT with 3 full time consultants to manage the sampling, data handling and software developments required by the business.

Meeting the business requirement

As well as conducting ongoing research to measure customer satisfaction on interactions with BT and perceptions of the product portfolio, BT regularly conducts ad-hoc surveys in order to understand in greater depth the opinions of their customers on developments and trends within the industry.

In association with these core sampling tasks, Centurion’s on-site consultancy team provide data manipulation and analysis services when required.

BT’s research program requires large volumes of data to be processed against MARSC and delivered to the interviewing agency within strict time constraints. In order to cope with this Centurion have developed a number of automated processes which pick up data files generated from a variety of internal BT systems, process these through MARSC and then deliver sample directly to the interviewing agency in a format which is specific to the individual job and the agency.

BT takes its responsibility towards the careful management of customer data very seriously. This means excluding customers from future research when requested and ensuring that customers are not contacted too frequently. MARSC allows BT to achieve this as well as offering the ability to determine complex re-contact rules based on the type of research required and the type of research previously participated in.

"MARSC continues to be a robust and efficient sampling system that is vital to all of BT’s research programmes. Combining this with the professionalism of the Centurion team has resulted in a winning solution."
David James - General Manager - Customer Strategy and Insight

The Benefits

The implementation of MARSC and the support of a dedicated Centurion consultancy team, has provided BT with a number of improvements to their market research sampling process:

• Efficient sample management. Accurate calculation of the amount of sample required based on accumulated contact history data allows the correct amount of sample to be issued, leaving the maximum available for other surveys.
• As well as standard MARSC sample reports Centurion have developed additional reporting capability to provide supplementary business intelligence to BT’s research program.
• Faster turnaround time to set up new projects and implement changes to existing frameworks. Market research within BT is constantly evolving as a reflection of changes in the telecoms industry.
• Ongoing development at BT will provide new sampling programs which will integrate more closely with new internal systems at BT and delivery of a new MARSC system to handle email surveys.